rasncain

OK... so friend and I are looking at playing around with an antenna so that I can connect to his internet connection. I figure there are a few ways of doing this...

First, he is only a block away from me and we DO have line of sight, some what limited but there is the capability of achieving line of sight.

Now... the goal is for me to use his internet access. All things equal, we both have Cisco 340 APs and PCMCIA cards.

I figure we could try a couple of things:

1. Bridge the AP's - hook up the single antenna to one of the AP's and try to bridge them (trying to use single antenna and not one on each end)

2. He uses antenna to broadcast signal from his AP in my direction and I possibly pick up on it using JUST my PCMCIA card?

3. I use the antenna connected to my PCMCIA card to try and pick up his AP.

All are possibilities to say the least correct? All or feasible and do able under the right circumstances and equipment, mainly antenna.

So... what are the pro's and con's to each? Let's leave security out of the equation, I know I know... security is the main topic here... that's why I want to leave it out. We all know how insecure WIFI is.

Different antennas for each of the scenerios? How would you do it and what would you use with the given AP and cards. The only variable you have to play with is the antenna itself. You want the best connection you can get... Sure I know you can buy, Super Duper XYZ antenna for like trillion zillion million dollars and have a perfect connection, but that is not the game.

I would want to know that:

XYZ antenna costs about $50 and you will gain this but the con's are this?

ABC antenna costs about $200 and you will gain this, but the con's are price and ?

Looking forward to hearing what all have to offer and say. Thanks!

lincomatic

before you jump in and spend big buck$ on it try building a homebrew directional like a cantenna (cost is just about $4 for an N jack and some beans), use your PCMCIA card, and see if you get a clean signal. a local grocery chain here use cisco 340's and the range is a few blocks even when i'm using a 5dBi omni. if he's only a block away, that might be good enough.

do you get any signal at all from your house w/ just your PCMCIA card?

on his side, if your signal is not strong enough, get an omni. again, you can build one for $10. there's ample info on homebrews on this board.

i don't have experience w/ cisco stuff, but usually bridging requires 2 AP's or at least 2 radios.

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~lincomatic

systemd0wn

with cisco bridges you have 3 options "bridge only" "ap" and "repeater". I dont see why you couldnt use bridge only or even AP. but its up to you. I would stick with checking for a signal first. and if its not a big deal walk from his house to yours with the laptop. try to make it a straight line and see when it dies. Good luck!

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Systemd0wn
'311 Transistor, its a lightning resistor'